Northern League - Week 2

Match 1 - Durham Dynamos vs Leicestershire Foxes

Welcome to Chester-le-Street

Pitch: A green top with clouds in the sky causing wwing to be a real danger. Spinners will be looking to keep it tight but this is really a seamers pitch with even the part-timers getting something out of it. Could be a difficult pitch to bat on especially before they play themselves in. Will probably be a low scoring affair unless a batsman is able to chance is arm.

Match 2 - Warwickshire Bears vs Worcestershire Royals

Welcome to Edgbaston

Pitch: After rain overnight the pitch will start off slow but will take spin right from the start. Due to the slow wet outfield players who can turn ones into twos will be essential. By the time of the second innings the sun should have come out causing the outfield to speed up making boundaries easier to come by. Spin will be key throughout and pace bowlers who can bowl slower ball cutters will do well here today.

Match 3 - Yorkshire Carnegie vs Nottinghamshire Outlaws

Welcome to Headingly

This is a pitch which will suit all-comers. Some dry grass for the spinners, some bounce for the seamers and a touch of that famous Headingly swing. However, due to the great nature of the pitch batting should be a fun challenge for the batsman. If a batsman gets in he should find scoring easy and boundaries easy to hit given a relatively short boundary.

alright, seaming pitch for the opener

Think I'll go with the deep batting and plenty of seam options, probably only Blackwell/Stirling as spinning options. Possible XI

Finch
Stirling
Gibbs
Collingwood
Blackwell
Pollard
Stokes
Read
Gul
Harmison/Davies
Hassan

Collingwood's wobblers should work well on here.

Provisional team:

Cook
Denly
Mahmood
Rohit
Dhoni
Bairstow
Rashid
Bresnan
Shahzad
Warne
Rampaul

Provisional XI:

Hales
Warner
Iqbal
Taylor
Van Wyk
Hussey
Patel
Swann
Broad
Adams
Malinga

Providing I get no injuries!

Yorkshire Tactics

Cook
Denly
Mahmood
Rohit
Dhoni
Bairstow
Rashid
Bresnan
Shahzad
Warne
Rampaul

Toss: Bat. Our bowlers, in particular the spinners are brilliant at defending totals.

Batting tactics: Opening the batting, Denly will look to attack while Cook will negate Broad's first 2 overs, before attacking himself. Mahmood will come in at 3 and operate as a pinch hitter, really looking to put the opposition on the back foot. If 2 wickets are lost before the 10th over then Rohit will be next man in. He'll look to get settled before attacking the spinners to provide a good platform for Dhoni and Bairstow. If the second wicket is lost after the 10 over mark Rohit will drop below Jonny B and Dhoni. Dhoni will look to attack from the outset, having previously displayed his tremendous talent against the best bowlers of the opposition. Bairstow will play similarly to Dhoni, if a bit more aggressive. Rashid and Bresnan will look to clear the ropes and even Shahzad, Warne and Rampaul are decent.

Over allocation:

Bresnan 1,3,5,20.
Rampaul 2,4,15,18.
Shahzad 6,8,17,19.
Warne 7,9,11,13.
Rashid 10,12,14,16.
Mahmood can fill in if necessary.

Bowling tactics: Bresnan and Rampaul will open the bowling and try to get the most out the the extra swing and bounce available with the new ball, against a top 3 that may struggle against it. Shahzad will be given the ball after 5 and look to bowl a fullish length with the odd surprise bouncer. Warne and Rashid will bowl in tandem through the middle overs. Warne's use of intricate fields will be key as they look to contain the run rate. The pace bowlers will return at the death and use a variety of yorkers and slower balls in order to get the batsmen out of rhythm to disturb their timing.

What a day yesterday. Welsh Grandslam!

Yorkshire Vs. Nottinghamshire

Alex Hales
David Warner
James Taylor
Akinjya Rahane
David Hussey
Morne Van Wyk - WK
Samit Patel
Graeme Swann - C
Stuart Broad
Luke Fletcher
Lasith Malinga

Toss: Bowl. My bowlers are wicket takers, so we'll bowl first and take wickets and restrict Yorks and then pick off the target.

Bowling: We'll open up with Malinga, who's extra pace along with some movement will be tough early on, and Fletcher, who will pick up some extra bounce and movement, and look for early wickets as they are both threatening bowlers. Malinga will bowl two before being replaced by Broad who will look to take advantage of the extra bounce from the Headingley pitch, and will nibble the ball about and will be dangerous whilst Fletcher will bowl out. In the middle overs my spin trio will use the dry grass to get the ball ripping and keep the run rate down and look for wickets. Swann will be allowed to attack and should pick up wickets regularly, whereas Samit will rattle through his overs and just look to tie the batsmen up and make them take risks against Swann which will help him get wickets. If a bowler gets hit about a bit, then Hussey can come on as he is a canny operator and can tie batsmen down. He may also be useful against any lefties whereas Samit can be deployed more against the RHB's. Then at the death Broad and Malinga will return and they are two of the premier death bowlers in the world and will make life difficult for all batsmen, event the likes of Dhoni, with their slower balls, slower ball bouncers and yorkers.

Malinga - 1, 3, 18, 20
Fletcher - 2, 4, 6, 8
Broad - 5, 7, 17, 19
Swann - 9, 11, 13, 15
Patel/Hussey - 10, 12, 14, 16

Batting: Hales and Warner will play their natural games, and they have both proved that they can get off to flyers in tricky conditions. Hales constantly does it at Trent Bridge and Warner's ton at the WACA off 60 balls proved he has it in in him aswell. Taylor will bat three, and will look to rotate the strike and push the fielders and use his pace between the wickets to turn ones into twos and get Hales/Warner on strike. Rahane is preferred to Iqbal because of his background playing in India which means he is skilled at playing the spin bowlers that will dominate the middle overs for Yorks. Him and Taylor will not take many risks and will play to their strengths and just turn the strike over and see off Warne, whilst they will dispatch the occasional loose ball that Rashid is prone to bowling to the boundary to keep up with the rate. Then, I have Hussey and Van Wyk two very good T20 players to come in and see me over the line with Patel, Broad and Swann in the hutch I should have enough batting depth to get over the line.

Worcs Tactics

1)Kevin Pietersen
2)Vikram Solanki
3)Gary Wilson (wk) U25
4)Shakib Al Hasan U25
5)Yusuf Pathan
6)David Miller U25
7)Gareth Andrew
8)Azeem Rafiq-U25
9)Jack Shantry-U25
10)Brett Lee
11)Junaid Khan

Toss: Bowl first, hopefully chasing a small target when the boundaries become easier to find.

Batting tactics:Injuries to Lyth and Bell aren't really beneficial here, Solanki will be given the role of anchoring the innings whilst KP will of course have licence to be KP. Wilson and Shakib will be charged with knocking the ball around, accumulating, leaving Pathan, Miller and Andrew with freedom to play at the end.

Bowling:

Shakib Al Hasan(1,3,10,15)
Jack Shantry(2,4,6,8)
Azeem Rafiq(7,9,11,13)
Gareth Andrew(12,14)
Brett Lee(17,19)
Junaid Khan(5,16,18,20)

Meaker dropped as I don't think he will suit this pitch, in favour of Shantry who is a much better bowler of cutters. Rafiq and Shakib to lead a two-pronged spin attack, with Lee keeping his place to provide his expertise at the death alongside Junaid Khan.

Durham tactics:

toss - bowl first, take advantage of conditions and restrict Leicestershire to a low score, then rely on my experienced batting line-up to see us home.

selection: given the conditions there seems little point in picking talented spinner Borthwick so we've gone for strength in depth in the batting with Pollard, Read and Gul at 7,8,9 and three front-line seamers. Davies gets the nod ahead of Harmison due to the conditions, in which he should thrive.

Team:
Aaron Finch
Paul Stirling
Hershelle Gibbs
Paul Collingwood (capt)
Ben Stokes
Ian Blackwell
Kieron Pollard
Chris Read (wk)
Umar Gul
Mark Davies
Hamid Hassan

bowling tactics:
Hassan and Davies to open up, both looking to exploit the favourable conditions, and pick up early wickets. Gul will replace Hassan after a couple of overs, before Collingwood comes into the attack, wobbling it around. Through the middle-overs, we'll rotate our bowlers quite regularly, never letting the batsmen settle. Gul and Pollard will finish it off.

overs:
Hassan: 1,3,13,15
Davies: 2,4,6,12
Gul: 5,7,18,20
Collingwood: 8,10,14,16
Pollard: 9,11,17,19

Back-up options: Stokes, should enjoy the conditions. Blackwell and Stirling to keep it tight if spin is needed.

Batting: our destructive top 3 will look to get us well ahead of the rate. Finch and Stirling are two destructive hitters and will look to take advantage of any loose fare in the PP overs, while there's massive experience in the middle-order with Gibbs, Collingwood and Blackwell to guide us home. We bat deep with T20 star Pollard due in at 7 (though he'll come in earlier if the required rate rises) and expert finisher Chris Read at 8. Then of course the hard-hitting Gul at 9.

notts win by 1 wicket.....chasing 170, good bowling performance by yorks, but notts just get across the line